I had a quick look also, but because I've not seen the stuff up close (in a touchy feely way) I've nothing to compare it to.
Also, because I'm a firm believer that not that much gets made here (uk) anymore I've been looking at Chinese stuff on ebay.

I've also been searching for cheap Tygon tube, 10mm id to replace the rear master Reservoir. Not too keen on paying close to a quid an inch..

I'm not really ready for either yet, but I now know what direction to go in. Cheers.

I've attacked the guard again, just to see where it goes, here's some pictures.

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Firstly I set up the front cylinder exhaust pipe & worked out where the securing spring hoops were to be welded. This is a job that was sorted, but I removed a lot of pipe to remove the old trombone section & this included the spring hoops.

Then I copied the small plastic front exhaust leg guard & made it with the last bits of aluminium sheet. Bit of a faff, but needed to be done.

Next I tackled the seat, this is a biggie for me & it's complicated. It needs to be covered & I'd like it to be done in leather. The problem is where the seat base meets the tank & making it nice around that area. The plan is to make an aluminium seat pan that'll follow the contours of the seat base & rear of the tank. Then bond the seat foam to it so the two foam bits become one.

I haven't thought out the fastening of the cover yet because I'm not too sure if I'll go old skool poppers similar to the old XR's.

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I've started on the seat pan today, not too sure what I'd come up with. Here's the pictures.

I was going to use these two pieces welded together as the pan, it's only 1mm thick ally but it's so stiff it resembles stainless. A bit flimsy though so I changed my mind & popped to the local steel suppliers & got some 3mm thick ally & a piece of 1.5mm stainless for other bits.

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I know it looks a little dodgy squeezed in there but there's no fouling of any sort & with the whole thing welded up there's no flex what so ever. I've had to angle the sensor so it will come closer to the magnets which will be glued into the disc bobbins.

The magnets are on order, they are 12mm dia & 10mm long, they should be here friday'ish. Then I'll see if it'll work.

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Brackets for mounting crash bungs to the frame to protect the exhaust & carb in case of a low speed tumble. Then fabricating another bracket off that bracket for the ignition switch with yet another bracket fastened to that supporting the expansion bottle..

Then I had a look at modifying the swing arm.

Then today I've been playing around with a spare linkage to see what would work with the cbr shock & standard swing arm (not the modified one above that was an experiment).

Please bear in mind the linkage is not for road use, it's also an experimental template.

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I forgot to mention above that the reason for three is that the mild steel ones are slightly different, there's an inch difference in ride height. Once I'm happy with the handling & a safe ride height has been established I'll complete the stainless one.

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Another thing I've also managed to include into the linkage was to move the shock closer to the gearbox so I can use an unmodified swing arm with the Cbr929 shocker. I feel that the modded swinger would hold up but a standard one would be better/safer. So, with the rear suspension getting there, I've also been focusing on the front end.

The forks are Cbr600 f4's & the 43mm forks have 36mm springs & these like the Cbr600fy I own also need upgrading.

Originally I was just going to increase the preload by increasing the length of the oem spacer, which is 100mm long to say 125mm but ideally new springs are needed. I've seen upgraded second hand springs go for around £50 on ebay which isn't too bad.

Now to work out what's needed I have these things to factor in.

A. I'm a big guy & when I work out what springs I need to support a 20 stone fatty they advise 11KG'ish springs..
B. When there's no springs fitted & the front's compressed the tyre hit's the radiator. Not by much but enough to not want to think about the consequences. So I need to reduce the fork travel & the possibility of full compression.

So the plan is to fit shorter firmer springs along with longer spacers to compensate for the shorter springs.

Now I do feel I am following the basic suspension rules, but because it's a built it & see what's what there's a risk it isn't going to work at all well or it might but needs a bit of tuning. So I feel reluctant to buy a set of £50 springs that might not work.

Then I came across these.

The advert stated.

Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade 2008 -16 K-Tech Superstock fork springs

Box of 28 - different weights as marked.

As pictured.

Approx sizes / weights.

Mainly 9-10 kgs, some 8 and 11 also.

Lengths from 23mm - 27mm.

ID = 25mm

OD 35mm.

Now ordinary CBR1000RR Fireblade 2008 -16 forks have 38mm od springs so after doing some frantic searching (because I felt these were a bargin & would be taken quickly) I learnt that these were not off an ordinary fireblade they were off a SP model & they run 36mm fork springs.

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This is where I am at the moment, I'm looking into a fan or fans to take care of the cooling when things get too hot.

I've tried to fit a standard item even a cut down version but it's just too big so I walked away till I thought of something & that something came to me about two weeks ago.

Don't laugh but I'm looking at pc fans.. 80mm x 80mm x 20mm to be precise 4 of them side by side. I'm not sure if they're water proof bit I've seen a clip on youtube with them running in a bowl of water so I'm running with it.

The pictures are of the thin stainless chassis I'm playing with & some ramdom fans I've dug out from the computer pile.

The fans shown are not powerful, I've only used them to set it up. I've connected one up & it's similar to a kid blowing a candle out, not bad, but could be better so I've ordered some of these.

SUNON PMD1208PMB1-A 80x80x38mm Cooler Cooling Fan DC 12V 9.1W 4Pin.

They are thicker by 18mm which is a lot for the space I've got, but we'll see what's what when they arrive. Even if I can get away with two or three of them I think they'll be better than four of the 20mm jobbies.

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The bike picture that started all this has always had me yearning for a set of Supertrapp cone exhausts.

Even though I like the exhaust I've made I think that it's not going to be practical. I've got a load of different types of foil backed heat material to attach to the aluminium number sheild in an attempt to kill the heat transferring to my thigh meat. I still don't think it'll work.

So a few weeks ago I purchased a set of the long searched for Supertrapp cone's. Worse for wear should of been included in the title & rose tinted glasses should of been included in the box that they came in. Pffff.

Anyway they're mine now. I've cleaned them of the random rusty 6mm mild steel nuts & drilled out the few remaining baffle mounting bolts enabling me to separate the baffle from the outer cone. For those that don't know, the Supertrapp exhausts are unique in that they have a disk system that you can add or decrease baffle discs to allow you to tune them.. These are held on by six set screws of which the majority were snapped.

In an attempt to remove the snapped seized studs I've accidentally removed what I thought were captive nuts that were holding them in to the baffle. This is where I've seen something I've never worked with before "Rivnuts" All I can say the world of Rivnuts is expensive. I'm starting to think I'd of been better off buying a new set of cone exhausts from Supertrapp USA.

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I have been looking at various rivnut tools to repair these exhausts, ranging from cheapo to mind blowingly expensive. But because I've never thought about using these fastenings, I really fancy a semi decent tool to rely on when needed.

I'd think that a tool able to handle a 12mm-10mm insert would easily handle an 8mm insert which would probably be the max size I'd require. The decision is either a new Chinese jobbie which would still be around a 100 notes. Or hunt for a bargain used decent make.

Hi all
I've bought a Honda XL125V recently. It's my second one, they are a great bike! Sadly though this one has a few issues I've discovered. :mad:
Here are some pictures of the bike:
Anyway, It taps like a champ on the front cylinder. I knew this before i bought it and assumed it was...

I have a 2001 xl1000 with 29000 on the clock. I was on a run today and it started missfireing. This got progressively worse. I returned home and the bike stalled in the drive. It now fails to start. I am not experienced with this model so any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all,
Is there a easyer way to set the mixture on a 125cc?
Going by haynes screw the pilot screw it in until it seats then back out 2 3/4 turns then adjust to find highest consistent idle speed then screw back in to drop idle speed 50 rpm then back out 3/4.
And you need a rev counter with...

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